Heel.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J'OHr4 F. STANDISH, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, F PATERSON, NEW'JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW' J ERSEY.

HEEL.

Specification of Letters Pa tent.

Application iiied January 19, 1915. Serial No. 3,173.

To all 'uf-homI it 'm (1y concern.'

Be it known that l, Jeux l". Srasoisir, a citizen of the United States,residing at \\"inthrop, in the county of Suffolk and State ofl\lassaeliusetts. have invented certain Improvements ,in Heels, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specificasuch, for example., as rubber have, for certain reasons,been attached to shoes almost universally by hand. `It is customary toembed in such heels, in the process of their manufacture., flat metalwashers, through which the attaching nails are driven. This isconsidered necessary for two principal reasons; first, such heels aremore or less softand yielding in chanicter and nails driven through themin the ordinary inanner of attaching leather heels are liable to work upinto the, shoe, after the cushion heel is worn down sufficiently topermit the. nail heads to come into engagement with the pavenieut underthe. uressure of the weight of the. weaiger: second, in man v heels ofthis type, the nails will not hold but will pull through, allowing theheel to become loose and drop` ufl'. 1t is apparent that. the nails mustbe linserted with great accuracy, to insure. that they will pass throughthe holes in the washers. This might be accomplished by the heelingmachine, it heels were all exactly alike: but different manufacturersspace the washers differently and even the heels produced by onemanufacturer are different in this respect, on account of slightvariations in the. molds in which the heels are made. and \-'ariationsin the shrinkage of (he rubber i; other composition during the processof cking the heels. The result of these variationsI/,n the loeatiopofthe wa'sh ers is that, lwhefi a gang of 'ails is driven into the heel bya heeling machine, in which they are guided through a nailing die byholes havingr a fixed location and relation, a nail frequently strikesone of the washers.

This` causes the nail to be deflected from its proper path withconsequent failure of that nail to enter the shoe properly and to effectits attaching function securely. Furthermore, since the nails areusually driven near the edge of the heel, the point of a deflected nailoften emerges from the Side of the heel, necessitating its removal andthe attachment of a new heel. Attempts have been made to overcome thesedifficulties by vulcanizing sheets of canvas, or other material, intoheels to prevent the nails from working up into the shoe or pullingthrough the heels, but they have not met with commercial success forvarious reasons, one of the most important of which is that a sheetofnextensible material in a ,heel destroys its resiliency or life hypreventing it from expanding and contracting freelyA under pressure.

It is highly desirable that the, natural resiliency of a cushion heelshall not be im-'v paired, and that the heel be adapted to he handledeasily by machinery. In order to be successfully handled in healingmachines under commercial conditions, all heels of'a given size, andstyle must be capable of attachment without difliculty or waste andwithout the necessity of changingv the ad justmcnts of the machine. Tosatisfy these riapiircn'icnts is the primary object of this invention.

ln its general construction the heel of' this inrention iocludesaplurality of nail guiding and holding members which are separate .fromand independent of each other, so that the resiliency of the heel is notimpaired by their presence. in it, and the said members are constructedand arranged to insure that the nails shall be sognided as to performtheir functions properly, even though the guiding and holding membersmay not be located in the heel with great exactness.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a number of metallicinserts, con

responding to the. number of nails to be used to attach the heel, areembedded in the heel. Each of these inserts is'rpreferably in the vformof a. dished washer which flares up through. By this means considerablevariation in the location of the washers in the heel may occur, and yet,the nails will all be guided so as to pass through the work properly andhold the heel securely in attached position.

From another point of view the invention comprises a nail guiding andholding device or insert adapted for use in cushion heels, formedsubstantially as a frustum of a cone, or l,ther equivalent thereof. Inthe` specific embodiment of the invention, liei'ein described andillustrated, the inserts or washers are shown as somewhat funnel-shapedor in the forni of a hollow, inverted, truncated vine, although itshould be understood that the exact torni shown is not essential to thesuccess of the invention,but thatotherequivaient forms might besubstituted, without sacrificing the results and advantages to beattained.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view showing a heel with aportion broken away to illustrate the invention clearly; Fig. 2 is asectional view, upon an enlarged scale, of a detail of a heel embodyingthe invention, showing the manner in which a nail often strikes thewasher; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig..2 showing the manner in whichthenail is guided into proper position; Figs. 4 and 5 are siinilar viewsof a. portion of a heel provided with the ordinary flat washer, showinghow a nail strikes the washer and is deflected from its path; and Fig.(3 is a perspective view, upon an enlarged scale, of a washerconstructed according to the invention.

'.lhe reference numeral 2 denotes a cushion heel which may consist ofrubber or any of the compositions commonly employed in such heels. Holes4 ai'e formed in the heel near its periphery and a nail holding andguiding washer (i is embedded in the substance of the heel at or nearthe. bottom of each hole. 'lhe washers (i are. entirely separate fromand independent of each other, so that they have no tendency to impairthe. life or resiliency of the heel by restrictingr in any way itsexpansion or contraction i|nder pressure. The form of washer illustratedin Figs. l. 2, Il and (i has been found very eli'ective and satisfactoryin practice. lt is conveniently formed from sheet metal by a simplepunching operation and is dislicd in its top surface., as shown clearlyat. S. small flange l() at the outer periphery of the washer all'ordsadditional holdingr power in the material ot the heel and a .slightIprojection l2 struck downwardly from the center otI the washer makes itsinterior form .such as to'facilitate easy guiding of the, nail 1l whenthe latter passes through the washer. The centi'al hole l iii the washerpreferably approximates the diameter of the body of the nail 1-1, sothat the,

head of the nail is held securely from pulling through the washer. whilethe diameter of the periphery is preferably several times the diameterof the nail, in order that the washer may be certain to be struck by thepoint of the nail, even though the washer be not located, or the nail benot driven, with great exaetness.

"hen attaching a heel embodying this invention with a heeling machine,the, nail guiding holes in the nailing die ot' which bear fixed relationto each oth'eig'it may frequently happen that the point of each nail`will not initially enter exactly the hole in the washer. but the nailinay strike. the nietal of the washer, as indicated in Fig. 2. This isparticularly likely to happen where headed nails are used, as iscustomary in rubber heel attaching, the points of which nails cannotalways be guided with exactness in the nail block, where the holes ai'enecessarily large enough to pass the heads ofthe nails; and itfrequently happens, also, when the washers may not be so located thattheir holes register accurately with-the holes in the nail block.Attempts to attach ordinary cushion heels conunercially in this wayliave been unsuccessful for reasons which will be clearly apparent froman inspection of Figs. 4 and 'hen the point offa nail sti'iltes anordinary llat washer, as shown at lh' in Fig. 4, the tendency, insteadof being for the point of the. nail to go toward the center' ot' thewasher, is to tip thewashei'. dellectin, `r the nail entirely outsideot' the latter. as shown clearly in Fig. ."i. Under these conditions thenail is usually deflected sullciently to prevent it from performing itsattaching function properly, and frequently it is even turned so farfrom its path as to causel it to emerge from the side of the heel.'.lhis. of course, necessitates the removal of the hccl aiid theattachment of a new heel. 'lhe point of the nail is usually guidedsomewhat by the wall of the hole si. which is formed in the process ofmolding the hecl, and the tendency of the nail pointto strike the washeris aggravated bv the fact that. the hole 4 is al\ v: iyi s larger thanthe. hole in the washer, thus leaving a sort of shoulder at the bottomof the hole for the point of the nail to catch upon. 'lhis condition isdue to the shoulder upon the pin in the mold. upon which thc washerrests when the heel is formed aroiuid it. 'hen. however. the washer ofmy invention is used, the point of the nail, when it strikes the inetalof thev washer, is positively guided toward the central hole in thewasher and cannot escape passing therethrough. 'lhis device in the heel,therefore` instead of being an impediment to the proper guiding andinsertion of the nail, becomes a very material aid to that operation.

The washer of my invention may bc manufactured as easily and cheaplyl asan ordinary fiat washer, and may be handled without diiliculty in theusual manner in the process of manufacturing the heel. No disadvantageswhatever result from its use,

Ibut, on the other hand, the incorporation ot this invention in acushion heel makes it possible to attach the heel by machinery withuniform success, a thing which has been entirely impracticable prior tothe in troduction of the invention. Its great importance may beappreciated when it is realized that heretofore it has been necessary toattach heels of this type by hand, whereas. by now making it possible toattach them by machinery. an enormous saving in Vlabor is secured. Thisis a matter of mate4 rial signilicance when large numbers ot cushionheels are to be attached to shoes during the process of theirmanufacture, as is the case in many shoe factories today.

Vv'hile the washer herein shown is approximately frusto-conical inshape. it is not essential that this exact form be preserved, since theadvantages of the invention might be realized with other equivalentforms, such for example, as the frustum of a pyramid or the like. lt isessential, however, that the side of the device which faces toward theapl'noaching point of the nail, be of such forn'iation as to guide thenail toward thl central hole in the washer and to insure that the nailshall pass through thc hole propcrly without being deiected from itspath.y and without displacing the washer from its position in the heel.

llaving fully described my invention, what l claim as new, and desire tosecure by lieltcrs latcnt is l. A rubber heel having a plurality ofseparate spm'vd-apart nail-engaging washers embedded in its body, saidwashers being provided with (lished sides extending from the marginalportions of the washers to the rims of tln` nailreceiving aperturestherein and facing the tread surface ot' the heel` said washersconstituting independent nail-dciierting guides, which are isolated froreach other by resilient portions of the heef; iody.

2. A cushion heel having embedded therein a plurality oi' separate andindependent nail guiding inserts, each of said inserts having a surfaceso disposed as to guide the point of a nail toward its center. l

3. A cushion heel having embedded therein a plurality of separate andindependent nail guiding inserts, each of said inserts having a surfaceso disposed as to guide the point of a nail toward its center. andhaving a marginal iange arranged to resist displacement of the insertfrom its position in the heel.

4. A cushion heel having embedded therein a pluralit)y ot' separate andimlepcndent metallic inserts. each oi' said inserts being in the orm ot'a disbed washer flaring up wardly and outwardly .from a Central hole.

A cushion heel having embedded in its body a nail engaging washerprovided with (lished sides extending from the marginal portion of thewasher to the rim of the nail receiving aperture therein and facing thetread surface of the heel, and with a narrow marginal iiange of a widthsufficient to resist displacement of the washer from its position in theheel while leaving the resiliency of the heel unimpaired.

G. A rubber heel having a plurality of separate spaced apart nailengaging washers embedded in its body, said washers be ing provided withdished sides extending from thc marginal portions of the washers to therims ot' the nail receiving apertures therein and facing the treadsurface of the heel, and with marginal ianges arranged to resistdisplacement ot' tlnl washers from their positions in the heel.

ln testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN F. STANDISU.

'Witnesses JAMES O. lVmGn'r, Phenol-:moli L. EnMANns.

